They didn’t just try to control our bodies… they tried to control our spirit. And those echoes are still with us today. For centuries, our languages were silenced, our songs were punished, and our spiritual practices were painted as evil. But what was taken from us was never truly lost — it’s been waiting inside of us, ready to rise again.

Our ancestral languages carried a worldview of spirit, balance, and connection. Yoruba speaks of Ase — the power to create reality. Kiswahili speaks of Ubuntu — “I am because we are.” Wolof speaks of Teranga — community so deep it becomes the soul. Compare that to colonial words like “slave,” which didn’t even exist in our tongues until outsiders forced them into being. Language tells us who we are. And we were never meant to be defined by chains.

Family, it’s time to return to what has always been ours. Every rhythm, every prayer, every moment of stillness is a reminder that spirit is our first language. They feared this moment — because when we return to spirit, we cannot be controlled. We cannot be silenced. We cannot be broken.

So here’s the call: Afro family across the globe, drop an ancestral word in the comments. Share its meaning. Share the wisdom your grandparents spoke. Because every word we reclaim is a world we bring back. Every prayer we remember is a piece of us restored. It’s time to come back to ourselves. It’s time to come back to spirit.